Nocturne 040 – Scions 02 - Patrice Michelle - Insurrection (7 page)

Her friend’s mention of her mom made Kaitlyn’s heart ache. Even though she was following her mom’s wishes not to be disturbed on her down days, she felt as if she was being shut out of her mother’s life. She hoped tomorrow was a better day and she could go to the hospital for a long visit.

“Some of my dad’s stuff is packed away, but Mom doesn’t want his office touched. Dad was very particular about his ‘space.’ Everything in its place and all that.” Kaitlyn glanced past the laptop to her father’s Spartan oak desktop underneath. The polished surface sported a banker-style lamp, a beer mug doubling as a pencil-and-pen holder and a glass “howling wolf” paperweight. She’d played with the wolf figurine on the carpet beneath his desk countless times while he did research for work. Pulling on the long, delicate silver chain around her neck, she touched the tiny silver wolf charm and smiled. Her father had given her the charm on her sixth birthday, saying, “He’ll keep a watch over you when I’m not around.” She’d never gone a day without wearing the charm since the day her father had died.

Returning her attention to the computer screen, she tucked her necklace back into her shirt. The charm fell into place, nestled between her breasts, as she typed, “Landon Rourke” into the database and clicked on the search button.

Abby moved to stand beside her. “Don’t you think it’s a little odd to do a background check on your man after you’ve made a date with him?”

A date? As the search icon spun on the screen, Kaitlyn shook off the depressing realization that it had been twenty-four months since she’d been on a date, let alone had sex. She gave Abby a pointed look and replied with annoyed sarcasm, “Don’t you have a class to teach or a sixfoot-five Conan to subdue or something?”

Abby’s lips spread wide in a Cheshire grin. “You really should’ve come last night. Willie and I hit it off right away. He’s taking me out to that new cool restaurant in town tonight.”

“Willie?” Kaitlyn laughed out loud. “You just mentioned the hulking guy you’d met, not his name before. It’s a good thing he’s a big man. I’m sure that name has gained him his share of ribbing over the years.”

“He’s definitely large all-the-way around, my dear. Now back to your man. Tell me about—”

At that moment, a photo of Landon, in all his sexy glory, popped up, rendering Abby speechless for all of two seconds. “Holy mother of—

that man inspires deep green envy. Haunted house, eh? Now I get it. It’s a great excuse to get up close and personal.”

Rolling her eyes, Kaitlyn scrolled past Landon’s picture and stats. “This is business, Abby. I hate haunted houses with a passion and the damned place is my only way to get to Tacomi’s warehouse.”

Abby crossed her arms over her big breasts, which were precariously held back by a V-neck Lycra workout top. She gave Kaitlyn a knowing nod. “Uh-huh, and that’s why you’re checking up on Mr. Too Hot for Words, because you want to make sure he’s not some psycho, right?”

Kaitlyn tabbed down the screen. “Honestly, that’s pretty much the truth. If this man is going to back me up tonight, I do want to know a bit more about him.” Even if his appealing smell leaves me feeling slightly dizzy and out-of-sorts whenever he stands near me.

Leaning close, Abby examined the screen. “Do you think that database lists how many women he’s left satiated and panting? I imagine it’s a long list.”

A small spasm twisted deep in Kaitlyn’s gut at her friend’s flippant comment—it felt strangely painful and unsettling. She frowned at Abby.

“This database is a list of his work history with the police, projects he has worked on with the officers, etc.”

Abby hit the down button until the information stopped. “It looks like he has helped out the NYPD for fifteen years, but hasn’t been active these past three years.” She glanced at Kaitlyn. “Wonder what happened?

Kaitlyn shrugged. “I don’t know. The database still has him listed as a credible resource.”

“How old is he?” Abby scrutinized Landon’s face. “He looks like he’s in his early thirties.”

Kaitlyn scrolled back up and read Landon’s stats. “It says here that he’s forty.”

Abby scowled. “It sucks how well men age compared to women.”

After Kaitlyn skimmed over the cases Landon had worked in conjunction with the police force, she felt confident the P.I. could handle just about anything that might come their way.

As Kaitlyn closed the database and clicked through the shut-down sequence on her laptop, Abby said, “Once your clandestine jaunt with Mr. Wonderlicious is over, I think you should put the man through his paces for the rest of the evening.” Ignoring Kaitlyn’s frown, she continued, “You know you wanna take him for a test-drive and see just how well his pipe’s ring.”

“Give it a rest, Ab.” As much as the idea of getting up close and personal with Landon Rourke made Kaitlyn’s stomach tumble in excitement, she needed to stay focused on her case. Other than that eerily strange connection thing they’d seemed to briefly experience in the park, the sexy P.I hadn’t shown the least bit of interest.

Intensity, maybe, but not interest.

At seven o’clock Kaitlyn drove from her house in the suburbs to the haunted mansion. As she pulled into the gravel parking lot, she was amazed at how full the lot was. Once she turned off her car, she could hear the muffled screams of the people inside the warehouse filter through her window.

Lovely.

After checking the safety on her gun, she slipped it back into the holster secured at her waist and snapped the holster closed. Buttoning her fitted black blazer over her turquoise fine-gauge sweater, she climbed out of her warm car, locked the doors, and then headed across the gravel lot.

Her steps slowed when she saw a long line of people snaking through the zigzag cordoned-off area near the haunted house’s entrance. Landon stood near the crowd, waiting for her. As Kaitlyn stepped next to him, he fell into line behind the last person.

He glanced at her thin blazer. His eyebrow rose and his breath frosted in front of him. “Where’s your coat?”

Kaitlyn shivered and tugged her jacket’s skimpy lapels up around her neck. She stared at Landon’s buttery leather jacket with envy. “I didn’t expect the line to be this long. My overcoat is wool. I figured I’d get hot once we were inside. I, um…have a tendency to get light-headed if I become overheated too quickly.”

His steady gaze slipped over her body in a slow, blatant perusal. “Good to know.”

She laughed and rubbed her hands together to keep warm. “What about you? Got any quirks I should be aware of before we face the monsters?”

“Just my intensity.” His tone seemed to go beyond his simple statement. Snickering, she wrinkled her nose. “You’re so-o-o-o blasé, Mr. Cool.” She gestured toward the haunted house. “Don’t tell me this doesn’t get your blood pumping.”

Landon shoved his hands in his jeans’ front pockets and gave her a sinfully dark smile. “I’m far scarier than they’ll ever be.”

The way he looked at her, as if he wanted to jump her bones and feast on her body, caused a flash of electric heat to shoot straight to her belly, temporarily warming her from the inside out.

But as quickly as it appeared, the look of ravenous desire in his gaze faded, making her wonder if she’d imagined it. A sharp, cool breeze whipped through the crowd, evaporating the warmth that had begun to flicker within her. She shivered, and chill bumps formed on her skin. The crowd moved up several steps, and Kaitlyn followed the group, stomping her booted feet to warm them. Damn, she was cold. She glanced at Landon, who appeared to be unaffected by the frigid air. Bet he’s all toasty warm in that jacket.

Landon fought his attraction to Kaitlyn with every fiber in his being. Her flushed cheeks and ready smile made him ache to touch her, to experience her soft skin under his fingers…her naked body pressed against his, under him.

A mental roar of sexual frustration echoed in his head. He set his jaw and jammed his clenched fists deeper into his front pockets to keep from running his fingers across her chilled cheeks.

As if his own torture wasn’t enough, Kaitlyn suddenly stepped in front of him, pulled open his jacket and backed her luscious rear against his groin, surprising the hell out of him. When she tried her best to tug his jacket closed around her body, yanking him against her, he tensed and tried not to breathe. Her musky, violet scent floated around him, stirring just outside his nose…waiting for him to inhale. She had no idea how close she was to being abducted.

“What are you doing?” he spoke in a calm tone, ignoring the beast growling inside him, demanding he grip her waist and bury his nose against her neck; insisting he clamp his teeth in that soft spot between her throat and her shoulder, marking her as his.

“I’m freezing my ass off,” she shot back, glancing up at him with unapologetic eyes. Turning forward once more, she wiggled her sweet ass against him, destroying his ability to suppress his primal urges. Consciously aware he could break her bones with his crushing strength, Landon used the lightest touch he could and gripped her hips, ceasing the excruciating torture. Resisting every savage urge that pounded through his veins, making his stomach knot and his erection swell to marble-hard proportions, he growled, “Hold still.”

Kaitlyn froze and then said in a low tone, “That’d better be your gun.”

“Why yes, I always pack my gun where it’ll blow my balls off.”

“Smart-ass.” Amusement laced her tone and he heard her heartbeat trip, then ramp up several notches.

A feral smile tilted his lips as he leaned close to her ear. “That’s the real deal, sweetheart. Since I can’t take my jacket off to let you wear it without revealing my gun, I suggest you make like a statue if you want to stay warm.”

“You mean stiff and hard like you.”

He let out a strained chuckle.

They were almost to the ticket booth. The shrieks and screams and eerie howls and growls from inside the warehouse grew louder as a new group of people walked through the front door. Kaitlyn leaned back and then whispered in his ear, “I have a confession to make. I really don’t like haunted houses.” She shivered. “I don’t watch horror movies or anything else to purposefully scare me. My job is fraught with enough danger without adding fantastical scenarios to the mix.”

“Says the woman who described fantastical stuff in the park as easily as reading a shopping list,” he teased at the same time his gut wrenched at the confession she’d made. What the hell would she think if she ever saw him in Musk mode or in his wolf form engaged in full battle with a Sanguinas? She would never understand what he was. And he never planned for her to find out.

He grunted from the strength behind the elbow she jammed into his ribs.

“Very funny. Just stay close,” she murmured, stepping away from him once the vendor with long, greasy black hair beckoned them to the ticket booth.

While Landon slid his credit card through the reader to pay for their entrance fee, the salesman grabbed Kaitlyn’s wrist then slid his long, bony fingers across her skin as he stamped her hand with a fluorescent stamp.

Without a second thought, Landon pulled Kaitlyn’s hand out of the man’s groping grasp. He set his own clenched fist, fingers down on the wooden counter with a heavy thump and glared at the man.

The ticket man sneered and stamped Landon’s hand with more force than necessary. Landon curled his lip in a snarl, then followed Kaitlyn up the wooden stairs.

As they stood under the rickety roof decorated with blood and hanging bones and waited for their turn to enter the haunted house, Kaitlyn jerked her head back toward the ticket guy. “What was that all about?”

I didn’t want his dirty paws on you. “I’d waited in line long enough.”

She smirked. “It’s good to see you’re excited to get in there. Just don’t forget to help me look for an exit that’ll lead us to the back of this warehouse. And stay close.”

The doors opened and Kaitlyn stepped into the pitch-dark hall that flashed every few seconds with a white strobe light high above the narrow plywood maze coated with splattered fake blood. Landon barely heard her last comment over the deafening roar rushing toward them. As tough as she had to be for her job—she really wasn’t kidding about her dislike of this “monster” stuff, he realized. A rush of protectiveness sent his libido to the backseat. He took one stride forward and stepped flush against her backside, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Kaitlyn’s small hand grabbed his and squeezed. The tension eased from her shoulders underneath his fingers, sparking a deep, abiding possessive streak that built inside his chest with each step they took. Landon’s werewolf eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness as they followed the narrow hall-like maze. Ahead of them he saw holes in the plywood where haunted house workers were reaching through and grabbing the unsuspecting patrons around the waist…eliciting screams of terror mixed with hysterical laughter.

As soon as Kaitlyn neared the grope fest, he couldn’t help himself. He wrapped his arm around her waist and hauled her against his chest at the same time he grabbed the people’s hands coming through the wall, halting their fun. He had to be careful not to accidentally snap the workers’ wrists while he and Kaitlyn walked past.

Kaitlyn’s breathing came in short little pants, and her hand laced with his around her waist. Primal satisfaction rumbled in his chest, and he found himself rubbing his nose against her silky hair right before he set her feet on the floor and propelled their locked bodies forward. When they started to turn a corner in the maze, a sad-looking woman dressed in antique lace hovered next to the wall, reaching out to them with transparent fingers. The “ghost’s” cries made Kaitlyn’s hand cinch tighter around his. He chuckled and brushed his lips against the back of her head while directing her down the next section in the haunted house maze.